September 12, 2006

Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven E. Chester today announced that a grant has been awarded to the Chippewa County Health Department to respond to complaints of partially treated sewage in the Lake George channel along the north shore of Sugar Island in the St. Marys River. This new grant for $24,800 is in addition to two beach monitoring grants totaling $22,200 awarded to the CCHD earlier this year.

“We will continue to work with the Sugar Island community to identify and address the existing water quality problems,” said Director Chester. “This additional funding will further those efforts, and help keep our waters safe.”

The grant money will be used to investigate visual evidence of pollution, respond to complaints whenever a pollution incident is reported by the public, conduct water quality sampling to assess whether the north shore of Sugar Island and segments of the Lake George channel are safe for recreation, and to identify sources of any contaminants. The CCHD, which is providing local matching funds of approximately $13,000, recently established a hotline at 906-253-3141 to communicate advisories and other information to the public.

For additional information contact Steve Casey of the DEQ at 906 346 8535 or by e-mail at caseys@michigan.gov.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised September 12, 2006 by Pat Watson